Death by Dessert (Hearts Grove Cozy Mystery Book 10), page 1
Death by Dessert
Hearts Grove Cozy Mystery, Book 10
Danielle Collins
Copyright © 2020 Fairfield Publishing
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Except for review quotes, this book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without the written consent of the author.
This story is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is purely coincidental.
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Thank You!
1
The morning air was crisp and tinted with the sea salt aroma one came to expect when near the water. A light breeze blew toward Henrietta Hewitt as she sat on a bench near the pier waiting for the ferry that was carrying Ralph Gershwin across the water from Seattle.
“Oh, phew, we made it.”
Henrietta turned to see her sister, Clementine Hewitt and Detective Dan Culper, her boyfriend, walking toward where she sat.
“You’ve got plenty of time.” Standing, she embraced her sister when she came near.
“Hey, Henrietta,” Dan said, his hand lightly resting on her sister’s shoulders. Henrietta nodded at him but turned to study her sister more closely.
Clementine tried to force a smile while patting down her hair, but Henrietta could tell she was nervous. In fact, if she were honest with herself, she was nervous as well. Ralph had been gone for almost a full week on a trip that could bring both she and her sister face to face with her nephew—Clementine’s son, Calvin.
Calvin had been missing for years by this point, but it had come to Henrietta’s attention when she discovered that her sister was not, in fact, dead. Since that time not only had Henrietta joined her sister in searching for Calvin, but her friend and Private Investigator Ralph and her new employee, Jacob Tait, had been searching as well.
“Jacob’s not coming, is he?” Clementine asked. It had quickly become clear to Henrietta that her sister and her new employee hadn’t hit things off well. While Jacob was impulsive, he was also young and didn’t also think his words through like he should. Henrietta had found it necessary to keep them apart for most of the time she and Ralph had spoken with him about what he knew regarding Calvin after his bold claim that he’d met the man.
“No, he’s covering the shop while Olivia is home sick.”
“Good,” she said, though she looked slightly ashamed.
“He was just trying to help,” Henrietta said.
“If by help you mean over-exaggerating his information and flat out lying about meeting my son, then yes, he was ‘trying to help’.”
It had finally come to light that when Jacob said he’d met Calvin, he’d actually meant online. They’d exchanged a few encrypted emails and Jacob had somewhat befriended Henrietta’s nephew. While Clementine had every right to be frustrated at the young man’s prideful assertions, Henrietta saw them for what they were. A cry for attention and a sure sign that he needed good, wise supporting friends in his life.
A horn blared and the three turned to see the ferry approaching.
“I hope he has good news.”
Henrietta agreed, though she didn’t say anything. She had a feeling he would have called if the news was that good, but she didn’t want to sew any seeds of doubt yet, especially not when they were close to answers.
They began to walk down the boardwalk, the water lapping at the thick logs that jutted down into the water. Seagulls called overhead and a few others milled about the area. While Henrietta called Heart’s Grove home, she often made the forty-five minute trip to Port Angeles, Washington in order to shop or take the ferry to Seattle or any number of things the larger city afforded.
Now though, her focus was on the incoming boat. A few passengers stood on the upper deck, taking in the last of the scenery before they docked, though Henrietta didn’t see Ralph among them.
After a few more minutes of silence between the three, the ship docked and a gangplank extended to the dock. The first passengers began to filter out and soon Henrietta spotted Ralph. He wore a puffy jacket with jeans and his typical baseball cap. One hand was in his pocket while the other pulled a small, black rolling suitcase. He always seemed to travel light and Henrietta wasn’t quite sure how he did it.
He nodded, acknowledging them, and made a beeline toward their little group.
“There he is,” Clementine said, stating the obvious. “I hope it’s good news.”
“It’ll be okay, honey,” Dan said.
Henrietta sent him a sidelong glance out of curiosity. A few months prior Dan had shown interest in her, but she had not returned the feelings. While she wasn’t attached to anyone, she did find that Ralph’s company was the only kind of the male persuasion she wanted to keep.
Now, seeing him ruddy cheeked and not quite smiling, she thought again of how handsome he was but also how his countenance, usually congenial, didn’t lend itself to good news.
Bracing herself, Henrietta smiled warmly at him and asked, “How was the trip?”
An innocent question that could be taken any way, but everyone there knew what she meant. It wasn’t a pleasure trip.
“I’ve got good news,” he said, looking at Clementine, “and bad.” He finished by turning to Henrietta, perhaps because he knew she could handle the bad along with the good.
“B-bad news?” Clementine said.
“And good,” Henrietta pointed out, resting her hand on her sister’s arm. “Let’s go sit and you can tell us how it went.”
Ralph nodded and they walked over to a small area where several benches sat, some facing one another. Henrietta and Ralph took one while Clementine and Dan took the other.
“Please, tell us what happened,” Clementine said.
“He will,” Dan assure her, resting his hand atop her clenched ones.
Henrietta could see the strength he lent her sister and felt her tense shoulders relax some. While she hadn’t anticipated Dan and her sister’s relationship, she found that it had a true quality to it she appreciated. Dan was a good guy and a very good detective and, while he worked in Port Angeles, he made frequent trips to Heart’s Grove to visit her sister. He was a good guy and Henrietta determined to tell him that someday…though right now was not that time.
“I’ll start with the bad.” Ralph looked at them then drilled his stare into Clementine. “I couldn’t find your son at the location Jacob gave me.”
She inhaled sharply and leaned back though she didn’t say anything, likely sensing Ralph wasn’t done yet.
“I took the full week because I ended up chasing down some leads in hopes that he’d just moved or was still in the area but it does look like he is no longer in Virginia. If it means anything, I will say that I think he was there though, so that’s something.”
“But, what does that mean?” Clementine asked.
“It’s a good thing that Ralph apparently found evidence that your son was in Virginia,” Dan explained. “It means at least some of our information was correct.”
“Yes, but also some of it was wrong. The address that was included in the letter you got was certainly fake,” Ralph explained, referring to the letter that Clementine had gotten from Calvin saying he was in trouble and needed help. He had asked her to wire money and, while it had taken everything in her arsenal to convince her sister not to send the money, she had only pacified her by coming up with the idea to hire Ralph and send him to Virginia.
“It was fake?” Clementine said.
“Very, but I did find a few helpful things through those connections.”
“Like?” Dan asked.
“Like an email address that is supposedly connected to Calvin as well as a phone number.”
“A number?” Clementine’s eyes went wide.
“Yes. Though I didn’t call it–-I thought that the first call should come from you.”
She nodded.
Henrietta caught the look that Dan gave Ralph and surmised that they were both thinking what she had been; if there was a phone number, there was the possibility to trace it. It was likely that they would be bringing Scott Gershwin, Ralph’s son, in on this soon.
“Is that the g-good news?” Clementine sniffled.
“It is, and I realize that doesn’t seem like much, but I do think it’s a strong lead to go with. I will compile the evidence I came up with and start working the next angle of this case.”
Clementine looked like she wanted to ask what that was but instead she leaned into Dan. “Can you take me home?”
He looked surprised but Henrietta nodded. “That’s probably wise. We’ll keep you posted on what we come up with, Clem, but remember this—we’re looking for him and we have good leads. It’s more than we had a week ago.”
“That’s true,” she agreed. “It’s just…hard. Is he in trouble?”
Three sets of eyes turned to Ralph and he tossed up his hands. “It’s hard to say for certain.”
Henrietta read between the lines of that statement and in that moment realized he must have found more than he’d let on. And, for some reason, he was keeping that part to himself. Why he would do that she wasn’t certain, but she felt he must have a good reason to do so.
“Let’s get back to Heart’s Grove,” Henrietta said, looking over at Ralph. “I can take you back, Clementine.”
“It’s all right,” Dan said with a grin. “I’ll take her. We’re going to go see a movie tonight—take our minds off of this for just a few hours—so I’ll be needing to head that way anyway. Plus, don’t you have that sardine can of a car?”
Henrietta surprised him by laughing. “My Mini Cooper? I find that it’s just the right size for me.”
“You and maybe one other person,” Dan countered.
She shrugged, “Ralph could fit in the back seat.”
“I’ll do no such thing,” he said, adjusting the handle of his suitcase. “Let’s go, Henri.”
And with that, they set off for her car.
“All right, Mr. Gershwin, spill the beans.” Henrietta put the car in drive and pulled out onto the main road that would lead them toward Heart’s Grove along the coast.
“Your sister’s…delicate,” he said after a moment of thought. “I did share the pertinent details, but there were a few other things I thought better of telling her.”
“I understand,” Henrietta said. “I’m not chastising you, but I do expect to be filled in.”
She caught his grin out of the corner of her eye. “I know you do.”
“Well?” She stopped at a red light and looked over at him expectantly.
“I’m trying to think of the best way to start.”
“The beginning,” she said simply and accelerated when the light turned green.
“Okay, first things first, Calvin was there—and maybe as close as two or three days before I arrived.”
“You think he caught wind of you coming and left?”
“I think that’s exactly what happened.”
“But why?” Henrietta shot him another quick look, assessing his facial features and trying to read what he wasn’t saying.
“I honestly don’t know, Henri.”
She wrinkled her nose at the nickname Ralph insisted on calling her. “Hypothesize then. It’s me—Henrietta—I’m here to listen.”
“Right, right,” he rubbed at his jaw, the sound of the stubble there making a scratching noise. “I think he was, or is, into something deep. I think that he might actually be in trouble, but I don’t think he sent that letter to Clementine.”
“I agree,” she added as a side note.
“But I also think that he may be conflicted about coming ‘home’ if you will.”
“How so?”
“If a kid knows his mom, and now his aunt, are looking for him, and he’s done any kind of research on you, he’s got to know your, uh, reputation.”
“You say that like selling antiques is akin to drug dealing,” she said, her tone snarky.
“Hardly. I’m talking about the…money.”
This time when her eyes left the road they were burning and turned on Ralph like a sniper’s sight. “What?”
“I’m not saying it’s public knowledge, but if Calvin is mixed up with anyone worth their salt, they are going to find out that there is some money to be had.”
Henrietta sighed. She hadn’t accounted for that, in fact, she never really paid much thought to the wealth she’d accumulated first as an accountant for a large firm and then as an antiques dealer.
“But what if that’s off the table.”
“How so?”
“Let’s say it isn’t a known variable. What else could be going on?”
“Okay, yeah.” Ralph sighed and she could almost hear his thinking. “I’d say that maybe you’ve got a kid up to his eyeballs in something bad—I don’t know how bad, but enough that maybe he promised someone they could get a decent payoff if they acted like him. You know, bought himself some time to get away.”
Henrietta nodded. “That could work. So, maybe he got wind of your arrival and then used a ploy to get away. But no, that doesn’t work.”
“Yeah,” Ralph grunted. “I see my mistake. How would he have known to send the letter before I even decided to come visit him?”
“What if your arrival wasn’t the catalyst for him leaving? What if it was something else?” Henrietta mused.
“That would make sense, but it won’t get us closer to know what it was. I tell you what, this kid was a ghost.” Ralph readjusted in his seat, his long legs cramped in the small car.
“What do you mean?”
“He was clean in leaving. Took it all, covered his tracks—mostly—and told no one he was leaving.”
“What was he doing in Virginia?”
“Working construction so I hear, though interior stuff during the winter. Corporate, I think. His coworkers said he was a nice guy, kept to himself, didn’t seem to have a girlfriend. Said he’d gone out with them maybe twice but most of the time declined their offers. I checked his apartment but it was empty, like wiped down empty.”
“Interesting.”
“Yeah, the only other thing I found out was that he paid for everything in cash. Rent, phone bill, at the restaurant with his coworkers. People said they saw him with lots of cash often.”
“Oh no,” Henrietta said. “Drugs?”
“I thought of that too,” Ralph admitted. “But everyone seemed to think he was a straight arrow. Said he only ordered soda when he went out with them.”
“Interesting.”
“Will you stop saying that?” Ralph said. “What else is going on in that mind of yours?”
“I’m not sure,” she said, taking a steep curve at a fast pace but executing it perfectly.
“Why don’t I believe you?”
“I don’t know enough. Though I do think we need to talk to Jacob after this visit you’ve had. While he may not have actually met my nephew, he did ‘meet up’ with him online several times. I’m curious to see if he can still reach out to him and what else he can tell us.”
“I agree. That kid’s a wily one. His info was good, but slightly outdated.”
“And a large part of me wonders how that is possible.”
“Mhmph.”
The center of Heart’s Gove came into view and Henrietta slowed down. She made the circle around the center of town monument and then headed toward her antique shop, H.H. Antiques, where Ralph had parked his truck.
“He’s working today,” Henrietta said, “but I don’t think now is the right time. We need to go over what you found, I’m assuming you took photos and have documents etc. Then, when we have a better idea and can ask better questions, we’ll bring Jacob in.”
“You’re some firecracker,” Ralph said with a chuckle, “But I couldn’t have said it better.”
“Oh,” she said, nearing the shop, “I almost forgot. Sassy is having a tasting tonight; would you like to go with me?”
“Uh—a what?”
“A tasting. Like a wine or coffee tasting but with chocolate.”
“I’ve never heard of that.”
“I’m sure others have done it,” Henrietta said, pulling up beside Ralph’s truck, “but I wanted to go to support her—and tasting chocolate sounds delightful, does it not?”
Ralph tossed up his hands. “I can’t say no to chocolate and I certainly can’t say no to you. What time?”
“Seven,” she said with a smile and a wink. “See you there.”
2
The rich scent of chocolate greeted Henrietta and Ralph as they walked into Sassy’s Sweets located a few blocks down the street from H.H. Antiques. Henrietta paused to take in a deep breath and then smiled over at Ralph.
“Aren’t you glad you agreed to come?”
“Where’s the chocolate?” he said in reply.
She laughed and pulled him toward the back room of the shop that Sassy reserved for special parties. The smells of sugar and cocoa beans mingled with the scent of coffee and Henrietta smiled to see her friend Gina Russo prepping a coffee bar.
“Gina, I didn’t know you were going to be here tonight,” she said, giving her friend a quick side hug.
